CHILDREN’S BOOK NAMES: From Aidan to Zoe

November 9th, 2009 at 1:12 am

I loved the Junie B books when I was younger, and when I babysit I see kids reading them too. A little girl I babysit for loves the Fancy Nancy and Lilly books (like Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse). Julius was Lilly’s older or younger brother, I believe. That’s funny that they made a series about him, too. And Owen is also by the same author. Ruby from Ruby’s Falling Leaves also has a children’s show called Ruby and Max.
I’m slightly disappointed that the “-ayden” trend has followed into children’s books now. It’s also funny to see the popular names being used so often for children’s books.

Some other books I remember reading as a child:
Ramona series
Joey Pigza
Amelia Bedelia
Angelina series (I never read this, but a little girl I babysat for loved these books)
Ella the Elephant (see above, she loved these because her name was Ella)
Nancy Drew
Eloise
Arthur

This post just made my day. Thanks guys

November 9th, 2009 at 8:11 am

The question is, are books with names that follow the trend popular right now or are authors penning books with popularly named characters at the moment? I would lean towards the former explanation since the Masie series, the Max and Ruby series and the Junie B. Jones books have been around since I was a child in the early 80s.

November 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am

Great list! I second RachelMarie’s mention of Eloise – it’s among my favorites, both as a girl’s name and a story!

November 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am

I loved the Junie B books as well. Interesting idea to find the most popular names from current children’s book. I agree this is a great list of names. The only point I’d like to make is that a name should truly reflect the child; and should have some deeper meaning to it. I love names and I’ve talked to people from all over the world about their names. And the ones I find most interesting are 1) people who have changed their names and 2) people who have a story about their name. You can have a common name, but if you have a great story behind it, that makes all the difference in the world.
Marly
http://www.namelymarly.com

November 9th, 2009 at 11:45 am

…a lot more angry children populating the pages, and a lot more preoccupation with poop and farts.

I guess a lot of children’s authors are of the opinion that anger, poop, and farts are something that today’s kids can relate to. I’m not so sure about that. The initial hilarity of the poop and farts gets tired awfully fast – for children as well as adults. And where’s the fun in anger?

In the Children’s Department of my public library, sibling stories still seem to be the theme that catches the attention of our youngest library patrons. School stories and super hero stories (or stories about children with unusual talents) rate right up there, too.

And now here’s a set of girls names from one of my all-time favorite sibling-theme series, Sidney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family: Ella, Henny (Henrietta), Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie (Gertrude). The five little girls growing up in turn of the 19th century New York. I can still see them in my imagination, standing in a row at the check-out desk in their public library, all dressed alike in their starched pinafores.

– Nephele

November 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

My daughters name is Emeline and after she was born, my MIL sent us the book “Emeline Goes to the Circus”. I love that she has SOMETHING “personalized” because I doubt she will ever find a key chain with Emeline on it

November 9th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

What a great theme for today’s blog posting! I’d love to see a follow-up of maybe names in adult books that are influencing baby-naming trends. My mother’s favorite book when she was pregnant with me had a main character named Mandy in it, and until I was born, I was going to be Mandy. Then my dad pointed out that Mandy Savage sounded like a stripper, and insisted they name me Erin instead Hehe But I was ALMOST named for an adult literature character, and I’m sure many other people have been as well.

November 9th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

What a great list! I write a children’s book blog (www.sillyeaglebooks.com) and will be linking to this post. Currently, I’m keeping a list of all the children’s books I come across with popular names either in the title or as the main character. Some that we’ve found that are not on your list are:

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn
A New Dress for Maya by Malorie Blackman
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Tessa Snaps Snakes by Alison Lester
Clever Beatrice by Margaret Willey and Heather M. Solomon
Fiona Loves the Night by Patricia McLaughlin

Thanks for helping me add to my list!

November 9th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

My daughter has read some other books lately with characters named
Tilly (about a ballet-loving little girl)
Flora from a book called No More Cookies
Ella from Ella of Course

When I was growing up, a family friend gave my sister the book Phoebe’s Revolt, which became one of her favorites. I remember thinking the character’s name, Phoebe Euphemia Brandon Brown, was pronounced Fo-bee. Years later, my only child is named Phoebe. I think those beloved early childhood characters influence us more than we sometimes even realize. Maybe that is the reason for the popularity of some of these quirky names which children’s book authors seem to favor.

November 13th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

There is also a book with a duck about Daisy that is rather cute.

December 30th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

This blog is great! Thanks for your hard work on it.